When I am writing a story, or even creating a character to roleplay, I would say that I find my inspiration from an external source about 50% of the time. So about half the time, I just feel like writing a good story or character, and I brainstorm simply within my own imagination to do so, or maybe I will have an odd thought while day dreaming that inspires me to write something. This is usually a more meandering way for me to create. The other half of the time, I am inspired by some immediate external experience, whether it is something that happens to me, or something I am reading or watching, and this hits me like a ton of bricks.

The inspiration is the joy, and the "work" comes in trying to temper the inspiration with a little realism, or playability, etc. But the whole porcess is rewarding for me.

Do you find that you lean more one way or the other when you are creating something for your game? Is one more effective for you? Are there some favorite, or recent, sources of inspiration that you think are worth sharing?

For me, it is film and comics more than anything else. I have built whole games based off things I saw in the movie Snatch, and if you want to see how scary a sorcerer with an angelic can be, see Boondock Saints! I am working on science fiction world for Sorcerer with its roots in the comic Lone Wolf 2100, a good read for anyone, I think, but maybe especially useful for Sirogit or Miek Holmes given what I have read about "Sex and Robots" and "Sorcerer in Space".

I am always looking for good sources of inspiration, and if you have a good one or a personal favorite, I would love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

I picked up this book from... can't remember. It's called Gods and Goddesses, Demons and Demigods . It's and A to Z guide for what must be over a thousand different, well, just as the name says. In the back there are also appendices that list the god's and so forth by their aspect, sphere of influence, symbolism and so forth.

In most of my role-playing lately I'll come up with a basic idea for a character, think about what sort of values he embodies, and they type of profession or weapon he prefers, then I'll look through the appendix for those gods, demons, and so on that most closely match the idea I had, and wham, theirs a great name right out of history. A few that come to mind are Essus, Nix and Vidar (DnD, Vampire and Sorcerer). They've all been great characters, and picking a good name is one of the things I dislike most.